Atlanta Braves Getting Dissed By Rosenthal?

Rosenthal Tries to Balance the Scale

"But a year from now, the Braves should be in better position to make firm evaluations on their youngsters — and, if enough of those players progress, better position to get any big piece they need."

Bless his heart.

There’s a reason that scouts exist in the sport of baseball.  They are present to look at “today” while projecting about “tomorrow”.

It’s an art form.  But a vital piece as old as the game itself.

With no scouting, Steve Searcy would be a footnote in Braves baseball and John Smoltz would be a hall-of-famer for the Tigers.  Without scouting, players like Evan Gattis or Andrelton Simmons might never have been discovered… or any others for that matter.

If a scout believes that a prospect has the potential to ‘turn it around’ or ‘break out’, that’s usually enough for a team to say ‘I want that kid’, for talent – as we’ve discussed – is hard to come by.  The more talent you can amass, the better you will be.

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It’s a statistical certainty.

Sometimes you get lucky and several top prospects “hit”.  That’s how I believe the Mets have ammassed their current pitching rotation.

Sometimes you amass talent and very little happens (the Marlins from 3-ish years ago).

But none of that means that organizations are reluctant to trade with you while waiting for that upside to show itself.

Heck, if nothing else, let’s say that the Braves’ top pitching prospects all blossom in 2017.  Great!  But that means trade partners won’t be able to get as many of them in a deal as they might have during this off-season.  I.e., the value just increased.

Scouts are all about trying to fins that ideal “buy low” candidate – that’s exactly what the Braves have been doing in the past two years.

Now they’re armed to the teeth… but also aiming to be highly selective in exactly how they use these farm-based riches.

So in answer to a fan question about the plans for the rest of this winter?

Next: Let's Get Smithy

And Ken, that’s not a ‘tricky’ situation for the Braves – that’s exactly how they’ve planned it out.  One trade doesn’t make a silly statement about the farm system.  It says more about restraint and their future.

Full disclosure:  TomahawkTake and FanSided writings appear on the MLB team pages at FoxSports.com.